Echoes of Time
by KumoriAmataka
Summary: Running away from her destroyed village that was invaded by a group of rogues, Nathifa roams the desert in the darkness of night. As she wakes up the next morning, she doesn't expect her world to change.. but is it good or bad?   AtemxOC
1. Chapter 1: The Night

1

Silence covered the desert, but it wasn't a normal silence; the silence almost seemed like death, as if no one lived on Earth anymore. Like always, it was barren in the deserts of Egypt. It seemed like nothing but sand, cloudless skies that touched the ends of the earth, and the bright moon that looked down on the land.

Through this silence, barren desert appeared a girl. Although she was running through the desert, she did not break the silence with her tearful eyes and crying heart because of sorrow and pain. She knew that her life could no longer be the same. _What went wrong for such violence to erupt? _ The girl thought melancholy thoughts as tears cascaded from her light tan cheeks. _He just came with his band of rogues and… took the lives of the only ones I had close and dear to me!_

As she began to run out of breath, the girl stumbled her feet as she tried to stop herself from running anymore. She fell on her knees in the smooth sand and eventually landed on her stomach, falling into a deep sleep. The memories of what had happened to her that evening replayed in her mind.

* * *

_Late during the night, with the moon slowly rising up high in the sky to look down on the village, the mother and father of the girl Nathifa were still awake; they were discussing on what to do for their daughter if anything were to happen to them. "I know this has to be thought out, but… this is a frightening thing for me to think or even talk about."_

_ "I know, Halima," Thabit said to his wife, "but if we don't get anything settled now, who knows what Nathifa would do for herself once we're gone."_

_ Halima sighed quietly, although she couldn't help but get the feeling of an upset stomach. The last thing she ever wanted to think about was seeing her only child in such misery and despair. She nodded very lightly and said, "Wh-What should we do then?"_

_ Thabit was thinking of any ideas that would run through his mind to help Nathifa. "… Well, she needs to be married soon, that's for sure." He thought aloud._

_ "But, Thabit, I don't feel that she's ready for such a life-changing experience." Halima protested. _

_ "She's at that age though. Besides, with a man by her side, he would be able to take care of her into his household if anything ever happened to us." _

_ As the parents continued to discuss amongst each other quietly, Nathifa was having trouble falling asleep, so she sat up from where she laid; she thought deeply, unsure if it was anything she was thinking about that was giving her lack of sleep. She rubbed her tiring eyes, feeling both confused and restful. After a couple minutes, Nathifa decided to get up and walk into the room where she found her parents talking. Once they heard her, they turned to see their living daughter. "Why are you up this late?" Her mother asked softly._

_ Nathifa shrugged lightly. "I couldn't get to sleep." She answered._

_ Halima and Thabit glanced at each other before looking back at Nathifa. "Nathifa… your mother and I have been talking about… your future." Thabit tried to explain as well as he could. Nathifa felt butterflies in her stomach, unsure of where they were trying to go with this discussion. _

_ "We want to make sure that you have a good life to lean on if… anything happened." Halima added. Now Nathifa felt worried; what were they going to tell her? She had her hands folded in front of her in a relaxing fashion, although her grip tightened in a way of trying to relieve her own paranoia. _

_"So… we talked it over, and decided… that you should get married." Nathifa's father said. _

_ Nathifa blinked her sudden grown eyes in surprise. Her mouth opened slightly rather than dropping her jaw; she always felt that she shouldn't be married to any man by her parent's order. She loved them to pieces, but the thought of getting married wasn't the best thing she wanted to do. "I-I understand why would bring that idea up, but being married so soon is… a bit superfluous, don't you think?" _

_ "But, love, how else are you supposed to be able to live on your own if-"_

_ "Mother.." Nathifa interrupted, looking at her parents, "father… I know you both mean well to me, but how did this idea of getting me married… I just can't see it at a time like this."_

_ Her parents looked at each other, oddly thinking the same thing. "Nathifa… there's something we need to tell you." Thabit said softly._

_ "And you must listen to us about what we're gonna tell you." Halima added._

_ "Wh-Why…?" Their daughter asked with a confused look on her face._

_ "… Because it's about your life and its purpose." They answered._

_ Out of the blue, a murderous scream suddenly erupted the night sky, but the source of the scream was not too far from Nathifa's home. Thabit got up and went outside; he looked to see a group of shady men riding on their horses (or running on feet) around their village; one of the men stood in front of a terrified woman shaking in fright on the ground in front of her house. Thabit didn't approve of the vibe he was feeling and ran back into his home. _

_ "You two go and hide!" He ordered to his wife and child. _

_Their eyes grew in fear. "Wh-What's going on?" His wife asked._

_ "I'm not sure, but I know it's not anything good!" _

_ Nathifa looked up at her mother. "But we don't want to leave you, father."_

_ "I want you to be safe!" Her father protested._

_ "FIRE!" Another villager shouted across from Nathifa and her family's house. Thabit, as well as Halima and Nathifa, ran outside to see what was going on now. Flames were consuming a few houses a yard or so away from their home. The burning atmosphere and smell of smoke told everyone else in the village who were screaming and running for their lives that they had to leave before anything happened to them. Thabit turned to his family (as they returned inside their home) and said in his most serious tone, "Grab whatever you can hold and carry on our backs, and meet me at the south end of the village."_

_ The women nodded and rushed to their rooms without a word. As the family started collecting their belongings that they needed, they heard feet stomping into their home. _

_ Before anything else could be done, the man Thabit had spotted earlier entered their household. He had the look of a killer with his bright, yet sharp orange eyes, glaring at the family who were preparing to escape from their village. After looking at the three, he looked back at the parents with a look of… betrayal. Why did he have such a look on his face? "… How could you?"_

_ They were all confused about what the man had asked them. "How could we what?" Thabit asked, standing close in front of his wife and child._

_ "You know very WELL of what you did to me fifteen years ago!" The boy hissed, almost sounding like an angry snake. _

_ The family's eyes grew in more confusion. They took a step back, but the boy charged at Thabit, pinning him to the ground. Halima and Nathifa gasped, rushing to help their father and husband. The young daughter had enough courage to grab the boy's arm and bite the boy's arm with all her might._

_"AUUGHH!" He growled, glaring over his shoulder to see Nathifa. He hissed again and quickly grabbed her neck, lifting her high up to cut off her breathing. Nathifa's face became pale as she could feel each breath be her last, but suddenly fell to the ground. She gasped for air again, but looked up to see her father pin the boy to the wall._

_ "If you EVER touch my daughter again-" Before Thabit could say more of his threat, he cried in excruciating pain, letting go of the boy. He looked down to see a snake, it's sharp fangs digging into his own skin. He tried to yank the creature off his leg, but it was to no avail._

_"THABIT!" Nathifa's mother gasped, running towards him._

_ "You get near him, and the same thing will happen to YOU!" The mysterious boy hissed._

_ Nathifa stumbled back onto her feet, standing protectively in front of her mother. "Leave now! You will never come near and my family again!" She ordered, though she was truly frightful of what she was going through upon that night._

_The rogue snickered. "I'm not giving you a choice, for not only am I gonna get rid of you that I once called family, I am also in need of something here for my good friend."_

_Nathifa was shaken a bit still by what was all happening. "It d-doesn't matter! You will NOT get near u-" Before finishing her order, the fierce rogue grabbed her by the collar of her raggedy dress and tossed her aside like a doll. She fell on the floor by the exit of her home. She got up and turned to help her parents, but to her misfortune, she was too late._

_The girl gasped but had her hands covering her mouth as soon as she saw her father curl his body shaking a bit on the ground. She spotted blood flowing from his leg and onto the ground; she looked over more to see that it was a snake that had bitten Thabit._

_ "Hmm… I shouldn't have made my pet bite you." The invader said before kneeling down beside Nathifa's father._

_ "Don't you touch my husband!" Halima threatened. After a snap of the rogue's fingers, the snake who recently bit Thabit then attacked Halima and bit her in the arm. She screamed and fell on her knees; she looked over to her daughter, terrified of what she had to see. "Run, Nathifa!" She cried._

_ "As I was saying…" the rogue, who must have been a snake charmer, turned back to the father of the family, "I'll be nice and give you a quick death!" He then sat Thabit up, grabbed his head, and …POP! His neck was snapped out of place._

_"FATHER!" Nathifa screamed, seeing her father fall to the ground, dead._

_ The snake charmer turned to the remaining two and looked at them carefully. "Which one of you will go next? Who wants to step up and fall upon the corpse of their beloved?"_

_ "Nathifa, I want you to leave now!" Halima told her daughter with fright in her voice._

_ "No! I can't leave you with this monster!"_

_ The rogue looked at Nathifa, starting towards her. "NO! Take me!" Nathifa's mother cried, tears down her cheeks. She shook with fear as she thought of losing both her husband and daughter. The rogue stopped then, a smirk spreading across his face. He quickly stepped behind Halima, holding her in a head-lock. "Now, would you like to die like your dear husband did? …Or should I say like my father?"_

_ Halima gasped in shock, realizing now who this rogue was. Before she could say anymore, though, another pop was heard and her body, too, fell to the ground dead right upon her very husband. _

_"NOOOO!" The poor child screamed in horror, seeing her only family die in front of her young eyes. She felt coldness run through her body, which was also shaking in fright. Her eyes couldn't look away from her parents' breathless bodies; she felt almost as if she fell on her knees at that moment, then she would sink through the dirt floor and continue to fall through the earth._

_"Ready to join them?" The murderer hissed, suddenly standing right in front of Nathifa. He summoned his snake to slither towards his next victim, but Nathifa snapped out of her blinded state of mind and, out of first reaction, slapped the man across the face. After doing so, seeing what she had done, gasped and stepped back. _

_ Then a voice in her head told her to start running… but where would she run to? She couldn't go to anyone for safety, so would she have to just run to where time took her? She had no more time to think, for she had to get away from this murderer staring at her with blood in his eyes. Nathifa made the decision and turned, running away from the man._

_While she was escaping from the chaos in her village, she looked to the sides of her to see what was going on; tears cascaded her cheeks as she saw the people getting beaten and kidnapped by other rogues that were invading the village. She just wanted to wake up, wake up from the awful nightmare she was in… but it was all reality to her misfortune._

* * *

Nathifa cried more but this time breaking the silence that had followed her around for who knows how long she had been wandering the desert that night. With all that had happened to her within a short amount of time, she didn't know how to continue on with her life. _Should I just wander the desert until I die of starvation? Should I run away more into a different village? What should I do?_

The girl was growing more and more exhausted with every few steps she took; her eyes were so heavy that she couldn't tell whether she was still in the desert or in another village, for she could see blurs of pillars and a structure in front of her. She then fell on her knees and right onto her stomach. Her eyes finally closed all the way, falling into a deep sleep.

She didn't know if she was safe or not before falling asleep, but she just hoped that she would wake up in a safe place. When she awoke from her peaceful slumber, she would be living a new life.

**Author's Note:**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi!**

**Nathifa, her parents, and mystery murderer belong to me!**

**I hope you enjoyed this! ^-^ *first time writing suspense/violence, so don't judge me -_-; *  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Before the Royal Court

2

When regaining consciousness again, the young girl couldn't believe she was still alive. She thought that the instant she had fallen deep into the sand that she surely died from a broken heart of losing the only people closest to her. She still felt weak as she awoke, but she began to wonder if she was still in the desert with the sun beaming down on her.

As she started to open her fatigue eye, she could sense cold air around her. She groaned at the feeling of such temperatures and wondered where she could be. Quiet moans she made as made herself open her eyes and wake up. Her dull, blue eyes were exposed to her surroundings, and—as her vision started to clear—she noticed there wasn't much light around her at all. She blinked a few times; the first thing she could fully see were bars just a couple of feet in front of her!

Her eyes then grew with such surprise and tried to get up, but she couldn't bring her arms out from behind her back, for they were tied with rope around her wrist. _What's going on here?_ She thought fearfully. She looked down at her legs to see nothing had bind them, so she had to try and get up without her arms for support; her first attempt was too quick and ended up falling on her bottom.

"Don't think you can get up and try to escape, missy." A man said from outside of her cell. She could recognize that the man was a guard, but a guard of what? Nathifa looked up at the guard more and asked, "Wh-Where am I, and why am I tied and locked in here?" As soon as she saw him give her a glare, she knew she wasn't in a good situation.

"You know what you did last night." The guard said.

Nathifa tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!"

"Don't lie!" He warned her, pointing his spear through the bars and towards her. Her eyes grew wide as she looked down at the sharp weapon. The guard then scoffed and said, "Wait until your judgment by the Royal Court. You'll be surely punished then."

_Th-The Royal Court?_ Nathifa was now in a state of panic. Not only was she innocent of a crime she hadn't commit, but she was also gonna stand in front of the six highest ranked priests… and the Pharaoh himself! The thought of seeing them in person was something she never thought she would do in her lifetime. She then sat up against the wall, her long, brown hair keeping her arms and other parts of her body warm from the cold atmosphere of the room until she was taken out to the Throne Room… where she would she judged by the highest authority of her kingdom.

A couple of hours later slowly passed by, and Nathifa looked to see two guards approach her cell; one unlocked the rusty door, and the other entered her prison room and picked her up by her arm. "It's time to find out your punishment." The guard holding her said in a way that somehow sent shivers down the poor girl's spine. She wanted to protest, knowing she did nothing wrong, but she had the feeling she would be in more trouble if she questioned them as she did earlier.

Being pulled out of her cell without arguing, the two guards walked on each side of her as they took her to the Royal Court. She did all that she could to calm herself down, but it did not help her in the least bit. First her parents are killed in front of her very eyes by a boy who her parents somehow knew, and now she was being taken for judgment for something she didn't know (she still didn't know what her 'crime' was). She then began to linger on the thought who the boy must have been; if her parents knew him, then she must've known him somehow. She couldn't remember much, though. Therefore, she couldn't get an idea of who the boy was.

She felt like a tiny ant as she walked through the corridors of the great palace of the Pharaoh. The stone flooring was not much to react about, but Nathifa looked around at the golden stone walls that structured the majority of the palace. Some walls had pictures telling stories of events that have occurred throughout time; most of the picture stories mostly talked of the time when Egypt became the great kingdom and even stories of Akhenamkhanen, who was Pharaoh before his son Atemu was given the title and throne as Pharaoh.

As she continued to walk to the Throne Room, the thought of appearing before them crept back into her mind. _I-I have to tell the truth! I didn't do anything wrong!_ Nathifa thought, glancing at the guards and where they were walking. _But if I protest the crime, then what'll happen to me? Will they send me back to the prison? I-I mean, what did I even do to be punished?_

Just as asked herself those questions, one of the guards with her shouted out from across the room as they approached closer to the throne. "My Pharaoh! We've brought you a prisoner to bring judgment upon her!" There sat Pharaoh Atem on and the tall, mighty throne, and the six priests of the Millennium Items stood in a diagonal formation, three of them on each side of the pharaoh. Nathifa noticed how stern and serious most of them looked, and when she met with each of the priests' eyes, she had the feeling they would treat her like any other prisoner; her tattered dress and dirty complexion showed she was just a poor peasant girl.

"What has this one done?" One of the priests asked. The priest was tall and had a long face, and the shadow casting from his headwear didn't hide his bright blue eye. From seeing the authoritative expression his eyes, though, Nathifa knew that he meant business (although all the priests seemed to be that way).

Both of the guards forced the girl on her knees in front of the priests and pharaoh as they approached them. Her skin skimmed the stone floor as she landed on her knees and cringed in pain a bit. She tried not to show any fear or weakness around them, but once again, it worked to no avail. "This girl had trespassed on royal ground. She was about to pass the gate before she fell unconscious."

Now knowing what she had done, her eyes widened and turned to the guard who spoke. "I-I didn't mean to come upon the palace!"

"Hush up!" The other guard ordered, grabbing a lot of her hair into his fist, holding tightly until she almost screamed. "Your protestation is not acceptable to the ears of the Pharaoh and his priests."

"B-But I-!" This time she screamed in agony from the guard tightening his grip on her before letting go of her hair. Much of her neck was dark and bruised from the attack of the boy the night she fled her home, so she was in pain from her head to her neck. She was afraid to speak anymore, for she knew the guard was right; no matter what she said, no one would believe her.

"Let her explain." The priestess said. She was only other woman in the throne room at the time, and it seemed that she knew something was right about the girl kneeling in front of the court. Nathifa looked at her with a face that said 'thank you'. The girl then began to explain what happened.

"I lived with my parents in Kul Saa, and—"

"Kul Saa?" One of the priests asked. Unlike the other priest who had a rod in his hand, this man had a large, ring-like necklace around his neck. "The Kul Saa that was attacked by thieves and bandits last night?"

Nathifa nodded. "My parents were killed by one of them; s-somehow the boy knew my parents… but after killing my parents, he came for me, and I had no other choice but to leave my village. For hours I was roaming the desert with nowhere to go; I had no home, no family… when I finally gave up on running away with no more strength, I never thought I had ended up here." She paused for a few seconds, trying to hold back tears. This all overwhelming for her, and she just wanted to be done with it all. "I-If you really don't believe me, then do what you must to punish me. Let me starve or anything else brutal. J-Just believe in me and what I've told you…" She closed her eyes, biting her lip nervously as the silence would worry her more.

The priests glanced at each other and looked to the Pharaoh. He in turn looked to them and back to Nathifa. His face softened a bit but frowned slightly. "Before we can do anything, we must use our Millennium Items to determine what kind of spirit she really has." He said.

She wasn't too surprised by what he had said; knowing that either way the priests would she whether or not she was a sinner. She took a deep breath, unsure of how it would feel to have the items use their powers among a person. She was ready for the judgment; she was ready to know her fate.

"Now I, Priest Shada, will use my Millennium Key to look inside her heart." The priest then extended the key out as if to unlock the soul of Nathifa. After a few seconds, he looked rather confused and lowered the key to his side.

"What is it, Shada?" The priestess Isis asked.

"This girl… she has no dark spirit within her!"

The priests glanced at each other as they had done before and looked back at Nathifa, who was also in shock of what Shada had seen. The six never thought a thing like this would happen in their lifetime. Most people would have some darkness within them, but as they had seen and heard, Nathifa was clean of evil. "Isis," said Priest Seto (who Nathifa had worry for), "Use your Millennium Tauk to see this girl's future." He had every doubt for Nathifa to be innocent of anything, and he wouldn't let her get away with her crime.

Isis stepped forward, closing her eyes as she used the power of her Millennium Tauk to look into Nathifa's future. After a minute or two, the priestess opened her eyes and looked at Nathifa. "… I can't see her future." Everyone's eyes widened at the discovery. They had no thought of what the girl contained, nor did they know what would come of her if they set her free. There was something about Nathifa that they didn't know about, and they had to find out what it was.

"Pharaoh, what should we do?" Mahado (the priest with the Millennium Ring) asked as they turned to their king for his judgment.

The Pharaoh Atemu looked at Nathifa. His dark, royal violet eyes examined her face to see how she really felt about these events. He could see anxiety in her blue eyes which shook with fear. Through the dirt complexion and sweat trickling down the side of her face, she saw nothing wrong with her. He could easily set her free, but as she told them, she had no home; if the boy who killed her parents was still after her, then she would be in danger if she were to try and live on her own. "What is your name?" He asked her, his voice deep, yet soothing to Nathifa's ears.

The girl looked at him and was polite to give him a light, respectful bow from where she knelt. "My name is Nathifa, Great Pharaoh." She answered slowly hoping to keep her voice steady and not shake with much worry she had for what could happen to her.

Atemu stood up from his throne and walked toward her. As he appeared in front of her, he brought his hands down to her face and lifted it up, so they could see eye-to-eye. After a minute which seemed almost an eternity to Nathifa, the Pharaoh spoke to her and said what would become of her. "Nathifa… I see that you are innocent, but knowing that you have nowhere to go, I have decided to make you one of my servants in the palace."

Silence grew in the throne room, until Seto stepped forward from the other priests. "But Pharaoh. What if—"

"But nothing, Seto." Atemu said, looking over his shoulder. "This girl has done no wrong. An honest mistake is an honest mistake; we can accept it and trust her." He then let go of her face and turned his body fully to face him and the others. "Anyone else who objects to the decision I have made upon this girl?"

The silence grew again, a few of the priests shaking his or her head, agreeing to his words with the remaining few who just looked away but didn't want to anger the Pharaoh.

Atemu then turned back to Nathifa and nodded. "It is settled then. I will have these two take you to the servants' quarters to let yourself wash up and dress into a new outfit." He turned away from her again, heading back to his throne. "You may take her now, guards." He said, turning again to sit down. "Cut the rope behind her and escort her to the servants' quarters at once."

"Yes, Great Pharaoh." The two men bowed before cutting the rope with one of their knives, lifting her on her feet, and taking her out of the throne room, leaving the Pharaoh and his priests alone once again.


End file.
